Sports

FIRST ANNUAL NBA AWARD SHOW

June 29, 2017 5:45 PM·

By Brandon Colon

The National Basketball Association hosted their first annual “NBA Award Show” at Pier 36 in New York City. The greatest players (young and old) to ever grace the NBA hardwood were in attendance. They were treated to a great show hosted by rapper and Toronto Raptors team ambassador Drake.

There were plenty Awards given out including Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man of the Year, Coach of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Most Valuable Player.

The NBA’s Rookie of the Year award was given to Milwaukee Bucks guard Malcolm Brogdon beating out 76ers’ players Joel Embiid (injury cut season short) and Dario Saric. Brogdon who was selected by the Bucks with the 36th puck in the second round was fantastic averaging 10.2 points per game, 4 assist, and 3 rebounds. He became the first 2nd round pick to win the award in the common draft era.

A huge part of Brogdon’s great rookie season was due to the amazing development of his teammate and future superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. Giannis was awarded the Most Improved Player Award and was clearly the star of the Bucks team. Where he played amazing on both ends of the court helping lead his team to a playoff berth.

 

 

 

The Sixth Man of the Year honors went to Houston Rockets guard Eric Gordon. Gordon who has battled injuries throughout his career was amazing from start to finish, especially beyond the arc shooting 40%.   It is pretty obvious some of Gordon’s greatness this year is thanks to his head coach Mike D’Antoni who was voted Coach of the Year for this season. D’Antoni brought his great offensive mind to Houston and they were off and running (literally) to becoming one of the best offenses this season. And his idea to move James Harden to the point guard position led to Harden’s great season and MVP nomination.   Most of these awards are based on player’s offensive abilities but defense wins championships. And no one can attest to that more than Draymond Green. His outstanding play on defense from the beginning until the NBA Final’s earned him the glory of winning his 2nd title and Defensive Player of the Year honors.  

Last and certainly not least we have the Most Valuable Player award. Although all the nominees had amazing seasons no one did it better than Mr. Triple-Double himself Russell Westbrook.

Westbrook was able to surpass the “Big O” Oscar Robertson for the most triple-doubles in a season with 42 (32 points, 10.7 assists, 10.4). His amazing ability to attack the paint, find the open man whenever he wants and sky for rebounds led his team to a playoff berth.

 After another amazing NBA season that was capped off with a great award show, we have the already crazy off-season to look forward too. Once the young draft picks and undrafted hopefuls get their chances during NBA Summer League you will be able to hibernate until October where we will do it all over again.

Comment: Bfcolon13@gmail.com Twitter@teambrandon13

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

You Should Read:

Nothing yet!

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Author: Rich has covered countless New York Mets and Yankees games along with some of the greatest boxing matches over the years. His award winning sports column has been in the Bronx News (which recently folded) for 28 years. Mancuso also has been a sports journalist for the Associated Press, New York Daily News, Gannett Westchester newspapers, Boxing Digest Magazine, The Sports Network and Latinosports.com. Bronxites will recall that Rich once hosted a sports talk television program, “Bronx Scoreboard” on Bronxnet Television. In addition, Mancuso recently concluded a four-year run hosting a sports talk program on the Whitney Broadcasting Network station WVOX.